The site is amphibian heaven. The pools are alive with darting tadpoles and wriggling newts, and the banjo-plunking sound of leopard frogs. The newts were especially fun to watch, because they're so closely related to fish, and their movements are very fish-like, like tiny eels with stubby legs. Some people said they saw red efts, too, but I didn't see any of those.
The event couldn't have had a better namesake! After dark, the meadows were alive with hundreds of fireflies. They start up slowly, only one flash here or there, but those starting flashes attract more and more, and soon the whole meadow is popping and sparkling like flashbulbs at a press conference. Next time, I want to try flicking a lighter or something, and see if I can get them to respond to me.
This was the first time I presented my own Obelisk in a public space, so it was a learning experience -- while I had the Obelisk itself pretty well sealed against rain and dew, the support hardware (power supply, driver electronics, and laptop computer) was not well protected, that's one of the things I haven't gotten around to yet. There were intervals of rain all through Friday afternoon, and although it seemed to clear that night, I was hovering around the Obelisk because I was worried about a sudden downpour frying the electronics.
After some hours of listening to the music and chatting with friends, I decided it would be okay to leave it for a bit, and went back to my van to get something -- and that's when the heavens opened and the roaring rain came down! I struggled back to the stage, through slippery mud, and found that the crew had everything powered down and thrown under tarps. I thanked them for protecting my stuff, but still it got badly soaked -- when I poured the water out of my laptop computer, I was sure it was toast. The musicians and their sound equipment had it just as bad: the rain pretty much shut down the live stage, so I took all my stuff back to the van and spread it out to dry. Lo and behold, everything worked fine after drying out, so I set it up again and had it running for Saturday night.
Saturday afternoon was when the weather turned really nice, and the fire circle became the popular place to be. I brought out my djembe and led an impromptu drum session, teaching the old standbys like Fanga and Kakilambe, and plenty of free jamming too -- it was great fun. Amatul decorated my head with paint and feathers, and everybody said it looked great! I shared some mead around, and other people shared some tasty local beers, and it was a fine celebration.
There were many little moments of fun (ask me about Fast Eddie's Used Tree lot), and a couple of moments of pain and difficulty, but overall it was a wonderful time. Most people were pretty good about helping out with chores and such (carrying amps and instruments up to the live stage, and back again, kept me busy for a bit), and if a few kids got a bit loud and careless, no one really acted like a jerk or a bringdown. I'm already looking forward to next year!
This page maintained by Wil Howitt